THE spirit of Manchester United has infused the next generation - and will make the Reds a force for years to come.

That was the bold message from Sir Alex Ferguson after his young guns played a major part in the dismantling of Arsenal in a super-charged atmosphere at Highbury.

The proud United manager believes that two-goal Cristiano Ronaldo - who turns 20 today - and 19-year-old Wayne Rooney proved that they have the right stuff to carry the Reds' banner forward.

Add to that two players brought up in the United tradition, in John O'Shea and Darren Fletcher - who celebrated his 21st birthday by helping to beat the Gunners 4-2 - and Ferguson believes the soul of the club is in good hands.

Satisfaction

Ferguson looked back on the win at Arsenal with great satisfaction: "It wasn't an easy game but it was a terrific performance. For players like Rooney, Ronaldo and Fletcher, young players of 19 and 21 to go into that game and perform like that, was fantastic.

"The change in the last year is that we have brought a lot of young players in, like those three, and with John O'Shea starting to mature.

"These guys naturally don't have that spirit that Roy Keane and other players have developed over a decade, and still have.

"We have retained that core of players like Roy and Paul Scholes, but with the O'Sheas and the Wes Browns and the Fletchers growing up at the club, and you see Ronaldo and Rooney improving every week, it looks good.

"For those two to perform the way they did at 19 years of age is incredible."

But it is not just the teenagers who have maintained the spirit - the signings of Alan Smith and Gabriel Heinze have also proved significant, says the manager.

"You hope the way these young lads are performing is linked to that bond we have enjoyed here at Old Trafford, and we have brought in two fantastic characters who epitomise the true spirit of the game, in Heinze and Smith.

"When you choose players it is never easy, especially with players from abroad, because you don't know what their character is like.

"I spoke to the coach at Paris St Germain, Vahid Halilhodzic, about Heinze in the summer and asked him about his character.

"I watched Gabriel play and was quite confident he would be suited to English football. What I didn't realise was what a great warrior he is, a competitor of the highest order.

"We knew all about Alan Smith, because we have seen it time and again when he played against us for Leeds.

"And with Cristiano we were told purely about his ability, and the Sporting Lisbon youth coach said everyone was right about him, that he was the best talent in Portugal."

The youngsters and Heinze rose to the challenge at Highbury, as did the old guard of Keane, Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

In fact, Ferguson was delighted to see that they thrived on it.

"I don't think the atmosphere bothered us - the players addressed it in the right way.

"We were keen to get on to the pitch, I could sense that in the dressing room. It's great to see that.

"In moments like that it's not that your character is tested, it just reveals your character. We saw Manchester United's character.

"But you have to balance that with the performance. Your performance is not just about determination and will-to-win, but also about ability to play, and our players showed their ability - the goals were fantastic."

Tension

The tension between the two teams threatened to boil over in the tunnel before the game, but Ferguson was keen to play down the importance of Keane's verbal clash with Patrick Vieira.

"I didn't know anything about what had happened in the tunnel until half-time," he said.

"We had too much on our plate at that point to talk about it, more important things, like winning the game.

"Patrick was obviously wound up - he is the captain and maybe he used that as a demonstration to the rest of the lads that this was an important game.

"I expected Arsenal to be wound up, and expected the kind of start to the game that we saw."

By and large, the Reds kept their heads, apart from Mikael Silvestre, uncharacteristically sent off for a head-butt on Freddie Ljungberg.

It was the quiet Frenchman's first dismissal of his career and he has had just 18 yellow cards in six seasons and 271 games for United.

Said Ferguson: "I could not believe Mikael getting sent off. He said that when Ljungberg sprinted forward, he thought he was going to head-butt him, and he stuck his head forward himself as a sort of protection.

"It looked terrible, but Mikael is the most phlegmatic person at the club. That tells you about football and the emotions of the game, how a spark can kill a guy's reputation - and Mikael has a fantastic reputation in the game."

But even that could not dampen the manager's joy at the way his team played:

"They were saying afterwards that Arsenal weren't happy with their defending, but if you look at the actual build-up to every goal, they were all fantastic, involving four or five players, with great passing and great incision in that passing.

"I am delighted with that kind of football. With that movement we had up front, with that penetration, we would have beaten most teams.

"In the first half, after we equalised I thought we looked like we were going to win it, but then we went to sleep when they took a short free kick and we conceded a bad goal.

"We weren't pleased at our defending in the first half - it was uncharacteristic, given the way we have been defending lately.

"So at half-time we said that had to stop. I always felt we could score goals against Arsenal."